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Friday, 31 May 2013

Way back in April I met up with a crowd of lovely buddies, from the Snippets Playground, at Ally Pally. These are what I took with me as small gifts:

I used:

- SU double sided patterned card stock

- instructions from You Tube here. What I liked about this was that you don't need a special template or die, just measure up a piece of card, score, snip, fold and stick - it's a really clear tutorial too, even I followed it without any disasters. And that was before I even had a Hougie board :)- butterflies punched with X-Cut punch and topped with little pearls - labels punched with a Hobbycraft label punch and the stamped sentiment is by LOTV from their 'General Greetings - small' set

- white organza ribbon to tie the tops together and hold the labels

And the contents? A scented 'Colonial' votive candle, nestled in tissue paper. The size is just about perfect for one of those.

I have a couple of 'Yankee Candle' votives that Irene sent me a while ago (to remind me of the sea air that I miss so much) and, even though still unlit, here in my craft room they give off a lovely smell - thank you again!

I think before I do light them I'll remove them from the craft room though - waaaay too much paper and inflammable stuff flying round for safety, there could be one 'poof' and me eyebrows and fringe could disappear.

How do I know this little fact about naked flames, inflammable stuff and disappearing fringes and eyelashes? Yup, been there and got the T-shirt - one of the most frightening experiences of my life about eight years ago. Refilling a gas-operated candle lighter over the utility room sink, thought 'I wonder if this is now working', CLICK, BOOM. Unfortunately there was butane liquid over my hands and that burst into a fireball - thank the Lord I was standing at the sink in fast reach of water. Spent weeks with bandaged fingers and agonisingly painful burns, minus fringe and eyelashes and was so very lucky for it not to be worse.

Of course the office had enormous fun at my expense - it could only happen to yours truly :(

Thursday, 30 May 2013

Really sorry I haven't been commenting for the past couple of days - bad girl!

Things just got so tight doing stuff for the reunion and something had to give. But, I have free wi-fi in my hotel room and will try to find some time to play catch up - especially those of you who've left WOYWW comments - and of course the mischief makers in the Playground :)

Still not even thought what to take to wear over the weekend but I have the wine and nibbles - me not totally daft!!

Do please carry on trying for Ryn's Water Droplets stamps - you can have up to three goes this week and next. If you knew what I know, it really is worth trying if this is one of your 'to die for' stamps.

Thankfully it's a little bit or a lot of white to be used over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge. And I'll also be entering my card into Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas Challenge Extra - which is always 'Anything goe so long as it's for Christmas'. I'd have LOVED to make an all white card but just knew that as a first try it would take me ages. However, I've been itching to use a new Christmas Tree die set for months so this is what I came up with - and it was so easy I made two the same, despite other pressing things to be doing:

I'll be running round today, checking lists and buying wine for nibbles and drinkies in my room before dinner over the school reunion weekend - a long established tradition to kick start the evenings. Now where did I put those mahooooosive plastic wine glasses?

The big down side is that my bestest buddy (from when we were both aged 13) won't be there as she's not been well :( I know you peek in here Moira - we know where you live and will be 'bringing the circus' up to you before many weeks have passed as agreed, that's a promise.Or even a threat - you don't get away from us THAT easily :) Big hug to you meanwhile Moira!

Also, the 'gubbins' at the front is the start of a card I was asked to make for our outgoing lady chairman. Those flowers took hours to make as each single layer is three sections - talk about glutton for punishment/detention/writing of lines, especially 'cos she seems to think I'm still a school junior! The ribbon is to go on the box I need to make for the card.

I've already made promises to some close bloggy friends to exchange ATCs - and they understand why I'm up against the end stop. Also, two other lovely bloggy friends have already sent me ATCs to be opened today - and I've kept to what they asked - but I do know they're both pretty mean with sewing machines and the envelopes are a tad plump :)

Sooooo, am not linking with an 'asterisk' today, why put more pressure on folks when I'm not even ready. BUT if you already have plans to send an ATC to 'Chez Moi' - or really would like one from me - do please let me know in a comment and I'll make my little batch right after the reunion weekend. Big Brownie Promise! Oh, and to 'The Knicker Sisters' - I'll be returning the favour and you're on my little list :)

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

This week's challenge over at Less Is More is 'Humour' so out came the 'humorous' stamps but lots of them needed a fair bit of colouring and time just wasn't on my side so I opted for one of my very favourite Penny Black stamps, plus one of their sentiments:

I've never used these two stamps together before, sigh - why ever not 'cos they do look as if they've just shared a good joke. I usually use 'You'll always be my friend, because you know too much' - which is another great favourite of mine but Chrissie had already used that one for one of her DT cards. Odd though, Len just doesn't 'get' that one - but maybe it's a girl thing to share :)

I used:- white DL card stock- Penny Black 'Loving and Hugging' stamp, stamped using Memento 'Gray Flannel' with just a tickle of Pro Markers - a snippet of lovely cheerful yellow backing card, which my colour swatch tells me is SU's 'Daffodil Delight'- sentiment is also Penny Black called ''...Quack me up!', stamped with 'Gray Flannel' again - then the bottom right corners were rounded with Fiskars 'Corner Rounder' scissors

Super fast card, made just before heading off for a hair chop yesterday. I know, my hairdresser has a little independent salon and stunned me when she said she'd be open on Bank Holiday Monday - which suited me down to the ground.

Of course, if the 'chop' didn't go to plan I could be sitting here today with a brown paper sack over my head. And I sure won't be saying 'You quack me up'! I might be quacking in indignation though :)

Monday, 27 May 2013

I must be totally barking, woke up with an idea for a card and come Hell or high water set out to make it - despite a million and one other things to do:

Having coloured the image I set out to die cut it, and blow me - the die hadn't cut right through. I sat and gawped at the thing for ages thinking there was no way I'd be able to align it into the intricate die again, then I noticed that at least either end was cut, so I did this:

Snipped down to where the die had actually done its job and then:

Replaced the die with the scrolls all lined up again and they then slotted back into the die. Cool huh - so then ran it through the Cuttlebug again (said like Forrest Gump - 'Agaaaaaain') and then my hawk eyes here noticed this:

You have to look really closely, but that die is so flipping detailed the little holes which look like they've been pierced weren't re-cut spot on so I ended up with multiples, sigh, although the rest of the die was fine. Almost ran round the walls in frustration until I thought of a cunning plan - run a line of 'Stickles' over the pierced pattern. Whoopee thought I, on a roll here gal.................not always the case :(

Set about making the card - in fact it's part made above 'cos I never play with Stickles or GlossyAccents before assembling a card. In some ways that might not be for the best - but that's the way I do it - then the card is put to one side out of reach of my elbow/sleeve/ hair or whatever to dry!

NEXT problem - I ran the image, now already die cut, through the Xyron (oh you wondrous attacher of a sticky back covering) - sigh, and just couldn't get the sort of 'extra whispers' of adhesive off the flipping card and between the scroll bits. Sheesh - by now I really WAS running round the walls, and doing back flips as well :(

Card ready for the bin yet again - until I remembered something I got not that long ago and keep forgetting I have:

It's a Stampin' Up 'adhesive remover' (am I on commission here?) - works like an eraser - and it's marvellous! To be honest it looks just like a piece of sole from a Clarks children's sandal (anyone remember those from childhood - I hated new sandals 'cos they had such white soles and I loved sandals when they grew yellow like this little baby?) This has to be the best £3.25 I've spent on craft stuff for a looooooong time.

So, after that things went fine - and there's another card for Rach's box to raise RNLI funds.

I used, if by now you can even remember what the finished card looks like:- 6" x 6" square white card stock- pale green patterned paper from the assorted pack that Kay sent me - I go to this so many times, thank you Kay!- the backing card is my own make - couldn't find the right shade of peach card so coloured round the edge of a square with a 'Peach' Pro Marker colour from the image- good tip which I bet loads of us use :)- stamped image of a perfume bottle - bought from the internet a while ago with no manufacturer or name, sigh - so I call it 'Unknown' in my little filing system:). Coloured with Pro Markers then tickled with Glossy Accents and Stickles (Coffee Ice) - and also uesd the same Stickles to the 'mistook' on the die cutting :)- oval silver foiled sentiment from Craftwork Cards, mounted onto a larger punched SU oval, which was also coloured with 'Peach' Pro Marker- some icy white pearls to finish - did you know just how many shades of white pearls there are?!?!

After that little lot I went and had a lie-down to recover :(

But, after all the angst - I actually really quite like the little beast!

Sunday, 26 May 2013

And another week flew by in the Playground! If you're coming to play then do please read the bit at the end of this post about a slight change to the Playground over the next couple of weeks. It's good stuff though so don't worry :)

My snippets card for this week is also for Rudolph Day over at Sarn's - hope you join in, there are some really lovely little stamps to be won, perfect for gift tags I think!

So here's my offering:

And a close-up of the tree:

The inspiration for this card came from 'Technique Time Tuesday', although I had spotted the 3-D idea elsewhere and was just waiting for some good tips and hints. That's what I love about TTT, they all share their little bits of info. which is such a help. Thank you to Karen P - that's how I found TTT :) This is where you'll find the little tutorial I followed - having had a little browse I see there are loads of ideas for using your snippets on TTT and the current one is making dahlia blooms from snippets.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square Kraft card stock - mostly 'cos the papers I was using have a 'homey' feel about them

- snippets of patterned paper were all originally from a huge, slightly shorter than A4 pack, I bought in New Mexico by The Paper Studio called 'Cozy Little Christmas'

- Nestabilities die from the 'Scalloped Pennants' set for the tree I used five pennants, and SU's 'Pennant' punch for the tub, just trimmed to the height I wanted

- sentiment and oval is SU from the 'Joyous Celebrations' set. The border was inked using Brilliance 'Pearlescent Thyme' and the sentiment itself using SU 'Real Red'. Then it was punched using SU's 'Extra-large Oval'

- Josy Rose gold star nail head on top of the tree and three round green ones in top right corner

Making the tree was great fun, I made a further two at the same time for future use - and it does fold down flat for posting, although I reckon it's a UK Large Letter thickness for sure. The baubles made by other crafters are fabulous too and one to try - oh, and a hot air balloon, oh and..............the list goes on.

So, what's been going on in the Playground this week? Let's have a quick look:

Maureen (Maudieroff) didn't waste a moment playing with the 'Arboscello Tree' die she won recently - even using the pink tissue it was wrapped it. I can only imagine the patience needed to make this lovely card!

This is what I meant earlier about the fabulous dahlia folding going on over at Technique Time Tuesday - made and brought to the Playground by Karen P. One to try for sure :)

Hazel made this beautiful snippets card for her Wedding Anniversary yesterday. Hope you had a lovely day Hazel!

And Elizabeth brought this fabulous card to show - what a lovely sentiment and so many gorgeous snippets too.

We have a new playmate this week, Rachel T, welcome and hope you come back to play. I suspect so as looking through Rachel's blog I spotted that she isn't averse to getting on the floor and playing 'Michael row the boat ashore' - in evening attire! Looks like she's gonna fit in fine.

And now for the prize draw of the LOTV stamps, dies and embossed cards:

Well done Carol, just shows that 13 can be lucky. Can you please drop me an email to di_wray@hotmail.com with your snail mail address and I'll pop them in the post ASAP.

The prize for this coming week is another lovely one donated by Viv:

I was going to keep it in the Playground toy box until nearer to Christmas time. But, my card today is for Christmas and I suspect this beautiful stamp set is one that folk might want to get to grips with well before then. Ha, I also suspect that a few people might be sighing over it :) Thank you Viv!

Now, here's the slight change of plans over the coming two weeks, 'cos, as most of you know, I'm away for my old school Reunion from Friday 31st May until Monday 3rd June:

1. The Playground will run as normal this week with the gates closing at noon UK time on Saturday. I can schedule all that plus hope to at least look in and check all is OK in between G & T's whilst away over the weekend.

2. The gates will re-open as usual on Sunday just as the clocks turns midnight from Saturday.

3. It'll be a new week, a new Mr Linky and another prize. But, there may or may not be a snippets card from me (I expect there will be!) but there won't be a show and tell and no results of the draw for the Christmas Rose stamp set 'cos Mr Linky will still be running when I go away. With luck I'll do the draw on Tuesday when I surface - possibly with a show and tell depending on just how shattered I am! No promises about that though.

4. As I said, there will be a new Mr Linky from next Sunday 2nd June so just come and play as usual and the following weekend we'll be back to normal.

5. Still with me? Good 'cos here's the next part. This coming week, if you enter three snippets makes there is an extra prize to try for - and it'll be the same the following week - to make up for the disruption. Just say in a comment when you link a third make during this coming week that you're trying for the 'Droplets' and you'll be included in a separate 'sunhat draw' for one of these. I have two, one for this coming week and one for the following week so each week the little extra prize will be the same:

Yay! It's that lovely 'Water Droplets' stamp by Ryn Tanaka.

Maximum of three entries and please
say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a
winner of this weeks main prize, the Sheena Douglass stamp set. Of course you can enter for both - why not, this is a treat 'cos I'm away partying :) Hic!!

Edit: I've just been playing with Mr Linky, all your entries are still there girls but you might notice that Mary Mac's delightful window card is now (midnight Monday) at the end of the list of links (she was actually first in the Playground this week) - just so you don't wonder what's going on!

Saturday, 25 May 2013

I know you should never touch young birds, but I just spotted something fluttering round in the greenhouse - beating its head frantically against the glass unable to find the way out. A newly fledged blue tit for goodness sakes!

It had obviously got in via a roof light - so I scampered across and opened the door wide then sat, and sat, and sat watching, well way from the greenhouse. After ages it just wasn't gonna move so I gently picked it (such a tiny little thing) off the internal side bar it was clinging to and popped it onto a table in the garden:

Harrumph, I didn't like that big glass enclosure Missus! You have danger zones in the Playground - and me feathers are still a bit damp from the nest too.

Then it fluttered up and landed on my (ahem) front where it clung on looking up at me, so another gentle scoop and it's on the highest fence I could reach - looks like it could have a bit of a headache and a tale to tell to its siblings!

Just peeked out of an upstairs window here and it's flown away - I hope it has a long and happy life :)

Adding this to Annie's 'Friday Smile' and this is for Darnell, just to show that some birdie tales do have happy endings honey.

Crumbs, it's months since I posted a recipe here so here goes. It's a recipe I've had for many years, and almost forgotten about but I made it again the other evening, for the first time for Len. He loved it! From the name you might expect a curry sort of dish - but not so. It has a luscious creamy sauce with a bit of a tang to it but not a hint of curry:

Grin, I think I broke the main rule of photographing food here. The chicken, which is what this is all about after all, is hidden tucked towards the back of the plate, nestled in the watercress, surrounded by tomato quarters and sprinkled with roasted flaked almonds (which of course are optional). But I'd already dished the full meal when I remembered to run for the camera - and someone was hovering nearby sniffing the air appreciatively so no way could I deconstruct the plate of food :)

Chicken Simla:

Served two but I think the sauce is enough for four so you could just increase the chicken portions.

Toss chicken in seasoned flour (I just do this in a poly bag), fry until golden in butter and oil.

Arrange in a shallow, ovenproof, dish then pour over the hot stock mixed with the mustard and Worcestershire Sauce.

Cover and bake for 1 hour at Reg. 3, 325 F or 160 C.

Stir in cream and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Garnish with fresh tomatoes and watercress - serve.

Things I do: I dithered over using Dijon mustard but thought it might not be mild enough so nipped out and bought American Style mustard which worked brilliantly.

I forgot to cover the chicken when it was baking in the oven, but it came out golden and not at all dry as there was plenty of liquid around it. If you were to cook four chicken portions then perhaps you should cover the dish.

After adding the cream I popped the dish back in the oven for about 5 minutes to heat the cream through.

We had mashed potato (to soak up the lovely sauce) and asparagus - but rice would go really well. The watercress and tomatoes do add a lovely splash of colour so I'd still add those if I was serving rice.

Friday, 24 May 2013

Err, I only used one bright blossom - but that's the name of a lovely Stampin' Up set I recently bought, new, from eBay:

I used:- 5" x 7" white card stock- SU 'Certainly Celery' patterned paper (bought in a small pack of 6 x 6" square sheets from eBay - someone is obviously being wise and chopping up 12" square sheets to sell before Certainly Celery disappears altogether, and why not indeed?)- SU 'Daffodil Delight' card stock, embossed using SU's 'Square Lattice' folder- a little strip of orange gingham ribbon- image stamped using SU's 'Bright Blossoms' stamp set, 'Certainly Celery' and 'Daffodil Delight' ink spots, and an orange Whispers pen- the image was die cut using a Nesties 'Floral Oval' die, plus a piece of greaseproof paper which made removing it from the die a doddle- sentiment stamped using 'Certainly Celery' and a stamp from a Stampendous sentiments set called 'Happy Messages'- sentiment was punched out using SU's 'Word Window' punch then layered onto a snippet of orange card, punched using SU's 'Modern Label' punch

A cheerful card made on a dull day here yesterday. Come on sunshine, where are you?

Today's tip - a really obvious one perhaps. I popped the image onto the card using very thin sticky pads - the embossed portion of the card stands more proud (needless to say) so to make sure the image was level I just popped a double layer onto the top portion. I buy really cheapo 1" x 0.5" sticky pads (mostly from Wilkinsons), they're nice and thin and can be snipped down to suit.

I think there could be a recipe posted here tomorrow - it's been ages!

Thursday, 23 May 2013

Whilst leafing through Stickeroos here yesterday, taking a little breather in between making bookmarks, I suddenly remembered a snippet of music patterned paper that would go with one particular Stickeroo - and so this card was born:

I used:- 6" x 6 square cream card stock- snippet of music patterned paper- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'Painted Vase' sheet- snippets of SU 'Wisteria Wonder' card stock, as a backing to the Stickeroo (always cut your card larger, place the Stickeroo on and then trim it 'cos those Stickeroos are a real pain (in fact well nigh impossible) to budge once stuck. One strip of card was punched using MS's 'Traditional Scallop' border punch- a snippet of gold edged cream organza ribbon, tied in a bow- three deep mauve pearls, just because

It spooks me a bit the way the image almost looks like vellum with the music paper showing through from underneath :)

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

There was one more card shown in this month's Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine that I wanted to try, designed by Katina and using cork. So, while the packet of cork was out on the desk I made this:

Harrumph, I took umpteen photos and this one still makes my eyes feel funny, I think it's all those dots :(

I used:- 6" x 6" square cream card stock- backing papers all from Wild Rose Studio's 'Vintage Rose' paper pack- the cork is DCWV adhesive cork and I
bought mine from eBay where the seller had just six sheets in packs - a
nice amount to play around with- flowers die cut using Tim Holtz 'Tattered Florals' die, topped with little pink buttons threaded with cream slightly fluffy twine - very much like old fashioned string- LOTV sentiment stamped onto a snippet of cream card using Brilliance 'Pearlescent Orchid' ink pad. Die cut using a Crealies 'Text Tag' die, with the border also cut using the same die and another little snippet of paper from the 'Vintage Rose' set

The self adhesive side of the cork sheets are very sticky and unforgiving, if you don't line things up properly there isn't a second chance. So, as I mostly do with 'one chance only' adhesives, I used a slightly larger piece of cream card, lined up two adjacent sides and then trimmed the other two to match. Trust me, they are all equal - that camera is likely to be seen whistling through the air before too long here!

Sticking things to cork is a nightmare - papers are OK if you use Glossy Accents but I tried allsorts to stick one of the buttons. Galloping to the rescue came a small tube of E-6000 glue - it's 'industrial strength' and absolutely brilliant. Safer in my hands than super glue (once glued three fingers together, sigh) and one of my very best recent purchases. Got it on a 'buy now' site on eBay and Helen over at 'It's All Fiddle Fart' swears by it, and if she recommends something then it has to be worth trying! I'm speaking about the lady who only went and decopatched her kitchen table a while back. I guess you wouldn't dare stand still for too long in her house :)

- stamped image by Pink Gem Designs called 'Little Gem in Love', with some minimal colouring and a googly eye picked out as the little black bead is stuck in one place inside the dome - much to my delight it makes him look as if he's peering up at someone :)

Anyone who knows me will also know I adore dogs, and still miss Benjie and Dougal (two adorable little Bichon Frises) loads - all these years later. This sweet little image has the look I'd get if I so much as rustled a cheese wrapper or chopped carrots in the kitchen - that always brought the patter of little paws.

Monday, 20 May 2013

The current challenge over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Festive Food and/or Drink'. I didn't have any festive food/drink stamps or images to hand - then 'Ping', on went a light bulb and I remembered the lovely Bugaboo Digital stamps I won not so long ago - from Hazel herself. Now here's a confession, I'm not normally keen on digital stamps - can't really say why but perhaps it's that I like my stamps to be tactile, but I was delighted with my win and this challenge spurred me on to pick an image I'd chosen from Bugaboo, re size it and have a play. I hope it qualifies as Festive 'Drink' - or should that be 'Festive Drunk':

I used:- A6 white card stock- Bugaboo's terrific image called 'JJ Christmas - cheers', coloured with Pro Markers and a gold fine pen. Some Glossy Accents added and then die cut with a Nesties Wonky Squares die- SU's 'Riding Hood Red' card stock, one layer for the main part of the card and another behind the wonky die - again just by drawing round the outside of the image die then hand cutting- white card embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Holly with Berries' folder- sentiment is from the 'Many Greetings' set by Personal Impressions - stamped using Memento 'Northern Pine' onto white card then backed with a strip of 'Riding Hood Red' card- red and green pearls either side of the sentiment, which I'd really dithered about until my 'in-house critic' returned from playing at being Robin Hood archery with his opinion. The green pearls were coloured with a Pro Marker 'cos despite a mahoosive box of gems and pearls there wasn't a dark green one in sight :(

I know quite a few people this card would be great for - one prime candidate is my hairdresser - this gal looks so much like her! Not that I've ever seen Jane the worse for wear, it's the features and her specs :)

Sunday, 19 May 2013

Yikes, I only just managed to finish my snippets card quite late yesterday so this week might well be a very quick canter:

I used:- 5.5" x 5.5" square white card stock with one edge punched using MS 'Lace Heart' border punch with a little straight snippet of 'Perfect Plum' patterned card on the back half of the card - snigger, which you can't see in the photo- pink card from the snippets folder - checking against my SU card swatch it's 'Pink Pirouette'- snippets of patterned 'Perfect Plum' card stock, chopped into squares and popped onto the pink card, some showing the reverse of the card- LOTV 'Born to Shop' stamped image (I used Memento 'Grey Flannel' as it's softer than black), coloured with Pro Markers, a tickle of Ranger Glossy Accents on the sunspecs and a touch of pink chalk on the bear's cheeks - a tip I got from Jules - it looks much more natural than trying to blend a pink Pro Marker- the image is backed with a snippet of plain SU 'Perfect Plum' card stock, die cut with a Nesties scalloped square die- sentiment is LOTV from their 'General Greetings Small' set, stamped using SU's 'Perfect Plum' and die cut using a 'Crealies text tag', as is the 'Perfect Plum' frame round the sentiment- a snippet of pink spotty ribbon (I have about two inches left so it's in a little poly bag with other ribbon snippets ready for a trip to Hobbycraft to stock up)- the finishing touch is a little handbag charm tied on with an irridescent cord bow (thank you Jules for sending me my own pack of assorted charms to play with!)

Right, am now up to a gallop - and here are some picks of the week:

I think you'll agree that Sandra H has used snippets brilliantly here - I LOVE all the greens!

A fabulous snippets card from Cathy R - sighing over the embossing folder here and a lot of little snippets used too.

Such a vibrant card made by Lynn - using the joy fold which is such a great way to use little snippets as well as being a real change.

Sam (aka Hettie) brought this stunning Christmas album to show - using shed loads of snippets I saw this album partially made last year and it really is breathtaking!

Mags B is another playmate who made a joy fold card this week - using one of my favourite LOTV images.

And Karen P brought this beautiful Wedding card - showing devotion to snippets! You really ought to go and read just how she squirrels her snippets - I think Mrs A and and Karen could be serious contender for being the best most OCD hoarders in the Playground!

Sorry that was such a fast whizz through - remember you can still go and check out all the lovely snippets makes from last week by going here.

So, last week's prize, donated by Jules - those lovely charms and the cord:

Mary didn't seem to have the vapours over the charms and the cost of using them on cards to post in the USA - in fact I rather think she loved them! I agree, why spoil a card if you feel that a charm is a nice finishing touch?! Well done Mary - they will be in the post to you ASAP.

And, now for this week's prize - which is a real little medley of goodies to play with. And my snippets card is a BIG clue.

This is what we have:

- first of all, the super cute LOTV stamp called 'Born to Shop' plus a pack of A6 embossed cards - kindly donated by Viv

-two 'Crealies Text Tag' dies from me. The white stuff is Eazi foam which you add to the die before using it the first time - I love that these dies will also cut a nice contrasting border as I used on my card today

- a set of LOTV 'General Greetings - small' stamps. These are almost my very favourite 'go to' set of sentiments and I use mine LOADS - I just checked and most of them fit inside one or other of the dies too. LOTV don't exactly inspire by including images of the stamps you're buying but I guess that keeps costs down, however I always stamp my LOTV images for reference and this is the slightly crumpled piece of paper I keep inside the packet with my own 'separated and trimmed' set of these sentiments:

A real little selection box this week girls!

The Playground is open all of this coming week, will close on Saturday 25th May at noon UK time and Mr Linky is below as usual. Just enter a snippets make into the Playground this week and I'll do a
draw after the Playground closes next Saturday.

Maximum of three entries and please
say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be a
winner of this weeks prize.

Saturday, 18 May 2013

That's the name of the Pink Petticoat stamp set that was a recent giveaway with Quick Cards Made Easy magazine. There is a potty, also the watering can that I used for today's card and a couple of wheelbarrows - each one filled with flowers, excellent for a giveaway (if you forget that you have to buy the magazine to get a freebie). But, QCME is always so full of inspiration I think it's excellent value for money:

- a snippet of white card stock, stamped with the Pink Petticoat watering can image, coloured with Pro Markers, a touch of glossy accents on the heart and a few teensy pearls on the flower centres

- I die cut round the image using a new Nesties die (Floral Flourishes I think) and almost lost the will to live. What a job getting the card out of the die - mental note for future reference, use that greaseproof paper!- the blue background was embossed using Couture Creations' 'Breeze' embossing folder - ha, a bit of a breezy card then. What's lovely about this folder is that half of the design is embossed and the other half is 'debossed'My original intention was to use Pink Petticoat backing paper but it was way too busy.

Hope you're all set for a good weekend - whatever the weather throws at us.

A Spike the hedgehog update - he's out and about every evening now from about 10:30 pm. The other night we hadn't yet taken the little pottery bowl from over the top of his fresh food when he arrived. Undaunted he actually managed to get his snout underneath it, nosed the bowl up and to one side and tucked in - ha, and then promptly left two little calling card to express his opinion of bad 'room service' :)

He still isn't posing for photos though, despite me lurking outside in the dark some evenings waiting for him to trigger the outside lights :( I think the men in white coats might turn up before long 'cos (much to Len's amusement) my ears are really tuned to hearing him (Spike not Len!) rustling round in the bushes and I stand there whispering 'C'mon out Spike and pose - pretty please'.

I used:- 6" x 6" square white card stock- silver mirri card, behind the patterned paper and then with the main image from the card mounted onto a piece and the trimmed sentiment added below- blue patterned paper, with teensy silver stars on by Craftwork Cards (had it for years!)- a couple of Josy Rose silver star nail heads at either end of the sentiment

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Super fast WOYWW from me - almost didn't join in but, as it's only a couple of weeks until Week 208 and the ATC swop, it didn't seem right not to play as I do hope to take part:

The usual cup of coffee - almost cold, as usual. The makings of a card, those Radley dog buttons still waiting to be played with - and a whole load of panic here. This is why:

Looks pretty innocent I know - but there's 250 bookmarks lurking in there. All are at least printed, chopped to size and the fold scored, 50 or so with the corners already rounded (punch, punch, punch), pretzel bags trimmed down to size for packing before little 'Flip over the page Magnetic Bookmarks' labels are added to seal the bags.

The reason, it's only just over two weeks until my old school reunion and these will be little table favours on the Saturday evening when we have our riot posh dinner/dance.

And this is what they'll look like once the magnets are added. Harrumph though, still smarting here 'cos the weekend is the same one as the WOYWW crop :(

That's me - need to finish the card and then get back to punching off bookmark corners - only 800 corners left to punch, sigh.

To see what everyone else is up to, with a LOT more sense (as well as much smaller mouths when asked what they can come up with for table favours), hop over to Julia's and then onto see who else linked in :)

....on a beach just like this one. Just off the South of Phuket lies an island called 'Lone Island' and we used to love going there for the day. Just the two of us to a very private beach, no tourists, a picnic lunch and our own boatman. Total bliss! So, when I recently won some stamps from Flonz, one stamp in particular stamp jumped into my shopping basket right away - thank you again Hazel! I do think they have some unusual stamps at very good prices, even though they have to travel from New Zealand. Lots of vintage ones too girls!

This week's challenge over at Less Is More is to use a coloured card blank, and it's one layer at that - bit of a double whammy there for me but I think I got there in the end:

I used:- SU 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock, cut to A6 size in a tent fold, with the left hand corners rounded- the stamp from Flonz is called 'Landscape with Palms, Moon and Lake' - looks more like the sea to me, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' with some colouring on the moon and white gelly roll ink on the breaking waves- sentiment is by Stampendous called ''Feel Sand', also stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black'- before stamping (me not totally stoooopid) I embossed the square frame and then pricked round the frame right at the end of making the card - using a Dovecraft ruler with pricking holes in and my lovely TH Tonic Studios paper pricker/pokey tool (thank you again Sam, I love it!)

And here's one of the beaches on 'Lone Island' which I did find on the Internet for speed rather than search through our own photos - in fact, that could even be our little 'long tail' boat :) I sure feel Thailand calling to me this year.

Hmmm, I spent ages looking for the perfect backing card in my goodies and found one with just the right shades of red and orange - then look what the camera did to it:

It only went and turned it pink! Sigh.

Anyhow, I used:- A5 cream card stock with gold foiling around the edges- the front of another upcycled Christmas card, sliced into three and popped onto gold mirri card- red/orange backing card which I think is by Kanban, swirls and little stars- a couple of strips of ribbon, one gold stripes and the other is red- three shiny gold card candi dots

I'm gonna see if the light is better for another photo today, but I suspect it's one of those cases where the backing card won't wanna play!

I don't normally wear a flower in my hair ...

..........just when I find one decorating a cocktail!

Welcome to my little workshop

I'm Diane (Di to most people), retired and I live in Hampshire, UK. The name Pixie's Crafty Workshop came about because my 'in-house critic' refers to 'The pixie being hard at work' whenever I'm playing with paper or other crafty stuff. And he's right, it's mostly when I should be doing other things :) I've always loved paper crafting - especially using scissors. Aged five and laid up with measles, in a fit of boredom I chopped my fringe right off! If it can be trimmed, then I'll trim it!

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I hope you like what you see here, and I would be delighted to see you picking up some ideas. However, please don't directly copy my designs for publication or contest submission.Thanks!